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I was stunned. I took Dennis aside and told him I thought he had read the
wrong case, or had just made a mistake. I assured him that if I had received
the settlement check, I would surely have remembered it. Dennis looked at me
and said he hadn’t made any mistake. Then he told me to come to his office and
he’d show me a copy of the check. I told Dennis that Art had two other cases in
the appeals process for me, the Perrysburg case and the suit against Rossford.
Dennis told me he'd also look into these other cases for me, and when I came to
his office to look at a copy of the check, we could discuss everything.
I agreed to meet Dennis at his office a day or so later. Before going
though, I thought over what he had told me and how I would handle it if he were
correct. Just in case you’re asking why I didn't just call Art and ask him if
this was accurate, it was because I truly thought Dennis had made a mistake. At
least I hoped he had, and I trusted Art. Was I in for a surprise!
When I arrived, Dennis took me into his office and handed me a copy of a
check made out to me in the amount $1,466.90. I looked at it in disbelief and
immediately told Dennis I had never seen that check before. I could see that my
name was endorsed on the back of the check, but that wasn't my signature.
Someone had clearly forged my name to the check.
Before I could say much Dennis informed me that Art had lost the appeal with
Cleveland Metal because he had not filed his brief properly, and that's why the
award had been reduced to $1,466.90. Dennis then told me to sit down and
prepare myself for the worst: Art had also lied about filing the appeal in the
Perrysburg case and in the Rossford case. He hadn't filed a thing. I just sat
back and told myself, "Stay calm, think this through. Why would Art do
this? Why would he lie to me for years about being able to win all three
cases?" It didn't make sense to me. Why would he take these cases,
especially on a percentage basis, if he wasn’t going to do anything, or at
least do anything right? Why would he waste his time, let alone jeopardize his
law practice, making up lies and forging my name to a check--basically stealing
the money? Didn't Art think I'd ever find out? If I wouldn't have accidentally
met Dennis, when would I have found out?
The only logical answer was that someone was paying Art off in one form or
another, and I wanted to find out who. At this point Dennis suggested that we
call Art and ask him what was going on. Dennis dialed Art's phone number and
when Art answered the phone, Dennis told him I was in his office and he was on
a speaker phone.
From the beginning of the conversation Dennis was up front with Art. The
first thing Dennis asked him was whether or not he had received the check from
Cleveland Metal and had signed my name to it. After a long pause Art admitted
he had received the check and signed my name to it. Then he immediately went on
the defensive and said that he had my authorization to sign my name to the
check because I owed him $2,500. When I heard this, I jumped into the
conversation. I told Art he never had my authorization to sign my name to
anything.
I admitted Art had lent me $2,500 and had every right to expect its
repayment. On the other hand, all Art had to do to get his money back was to file
his brief properly and he would have received the $2,500 plus his third of
$40,000. He didn't have to lie to me, forge my name to the check and steal the
money.
Before anything else could be said Dennis asked Art if he understood that he
had committed forgery, and given the amount of the check, had committed a
felony. Dennis told Art that he knew Art had lost the appeal with Cleveland
Metal because he had not filed his brief properly, and that we also knew that
Art had never filed any appeals in the Perrysburg or Rossford cases either. It
was all a lie.
After several minutes of silence, Art’s attitude changed. He said he was
sorry things had worked out the way they did. I could tell by the tone of his
voice that he knew he was in trouble. Art then offered to make restitution for
the check that he forged and stole, and for the $40,000 judgment he screwed up.
As far as the Perrysburg and Rossford cases, there was nothing he could do
about that.
When I heard this, my blood boiled. To tell you the truth, it's a good thing
that Art wasn't in front of me at that moment because I think I'd have torn the
truth out of him. Thank God though, I somehow kept my composure.
Before Dennis had a chance to say anything, I told Art that I had a better
offer to make him. If Art would tell me who paid him to screw up these cases
and why, he wouldn't have to pay anything. It didn't take but a second for Art
to refuse my offer. His answer was that there was no way he would do that. At
that point I stopped the conversation from going any further by making it
extremely clear to both Dennis and Art that I was more interested in Art
telling me the truth, as far as why he did this and who paid him to do it, than
I was in getting the money back.
I ended the conversation by telling Art there was no way in hell I would let
him pay me $41,466.90 and just walk away. It would never happen. Art would
agree right then to tell either me the truth, or I would take the copy of the
check to the Toledo Police Department and file charges against him. I wasn't
playing games with him and it was all his choice. Art refused to comply.
After hanging up with Art I told Dennis that I didn't think I had any other
choice but to file the charge against Art. Hopefully that would be enough to
convince Art that I wasn't playing games with him and wouldn’t stop until he
told me who paid him to do this.
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